North Lincolnshire Aviation Heritage Centre

North Lincolnshire Aviation Heritage Centre is a not for profit charitable company established and registered with Companies House (Number 12325490) in 2019. It is dedicated to creating a permanent memorial and museum to the memory of those men and women of all nations (Australia, Belgium, Britain, Canada, France, India, New Zealand, the Netherlands, Poland and the USA) who served in North Lincolnshire and who took part in the struggle against Nazi tyranny between 1939 and 1945. The Centre seeks to tell their story and to create an archive to allow learners of all ages to research and understand the subject further.

The site at Hibaldstow has several remaining WW2 buildings ‘in situ’ including an airfield command bunker. Reconstruction is underway of Nissen huts and timber huts using salvaged materials where possible on original concrete bases. These replicate to a great extent original buildings that were on the site and will, in due course, house a rapidly growing collection of display artifacts, reading and reference material.

Central to the site our volunteers have created a fitting memorial to all those service personnel who served at RAF Hibaldstow and other stations throughout what is now North Lincolnshire. Viewed from above the layout of the memorial can be seen to represent the plan shape of a Spitfire fighter aircraft. A smaller existing memorial previously placed on the site has been repositioned and incorporated into the overall concept.

A wartime Anderson shelter, the sections of which were discovered on the site acting as a tractor shed, has been rebuilt in the centre of a “Dig for Victory” garden created to represent the typical rear garden of a domestic property during wartime. The garden is well tended and produces a variety of typical basic foodstuffs.  In the near future it is hoped that school pupils and others will be able to visit, experience the ambiance of WW2, understand what their grandparents and great grandparents endured and maybe develop their own green fingers.

A small orchard in the centre of the site has been retained and transformed from an overgrown mass of brambles, nettles and weeds into a shady seating area where visitors will be encouraged to enjoy a picnic in the spring and summer months. Indeed the whole area of the site has been cleared and developed into a neatly landscaped space that it is hoped will become a regular stopping off point for visitors.

Work on the site is carried out by an all-volunteer group (Friends of RAF Hibaldstow), which will continue to support the project for the foreseeable future. The Friends range in age from teenagers to octogenarians and count amongst their members people from all walks of life bringing a huge variety of skills with enthusiasm at the core. Although North Lincolnshire is part of the extended Lincolnshire Aviation Heritage Trail, there was no actual focal point for the public in the area and the Centre will serve to create just such a location.